Agile at Scale

Monday, January 16, 2017

Doing Agile in
small pockets is relatively easy to kick off and make work - the real challenge
is doing this at scale. Just like waterfall project delivery, there are
significant challenges in ensuring alignment and the right focus when you
have multiple initiatives running simultaneously with cross dependencies,
impacting the same users and systems, all calling out for funding. The natural
inclination is to put in controls and standardise where possible - yet these
can quickly kill the benefits of delivering in an Agile way. You want to give
Agile teams autonomy, with room to experiment and fail fast, so how can this be
managed?

Frameworks exist
which help provide guidance on how to use Agile at scale. The two most
common are LeSS (Large Scale Scrum) and SAFe (Scaled Agile
Framework). At Enfuse Group we currently favour SAFe, although this by no means
perfect and still evolving. Whatever framework you choose needs to be tailored
to your needs. The key is to simplify where possible. Anyone who has seen the diagram
for SAFe will know what I mean.

Whilst every
company has different considerations for how Agile will best work at scale for
them, outlined below are what we believe to be the the most common considerations worth calling out.

How to secure funding: Are you able to change your change funding
model at the enterprise level?

Ongoing funding for Agile product lines is key, so consider how
you will obtain and manage this at scale. Whilst a few Agile projects
could be given special dispensation in terms of budget pots, convincing an
organisation to do this at a grander scale is not a simple ask. Senior execs
will get very nervous, especially if you go all Agile on them and don’t provide
detailed budgets, deliverable lists and plans.

Educate your execs on Agile and
the funding implications, and work with them to come up with an approach that
works for your enterprise. Sometimes you can’t get continuous funding, but that
isn’t the only option. For instance, one major media company we have worked
with funds a 6 week project for each product; 3 weeks before the end of the
project another 6 week project is approved and the cycle continues. This is
effective for them.

How to resource your Agile world: How will
you recruit, nurture and train people to fit into your Agile enterprise?

With a few Agile projects you can cherry pick people with the
right mindsets and previous experience, but at scale you will not have that
luxury. When doing Agile at the enterprise scale you will quickly find that
many of your people cannot easily make the transition to your Agile model. For
example, at Enfuse Group we regularly see organisations try to move BAs
into Product Owner roles only to find that at best 70% can make the leap,
whilst at worst you're probably looking at 30%. This is one of the reasons we
often recommend companies to take it slow with scaling Agile – if you go too
fast you will not be able to get in the right people and you will fail.

How to co-ordinate your products: What are your products and how will
you align these? Will you have product groups or sub products? Will these be
completely autonomous from one another?

If you are a long standing organisation
it is likely you will have integrated systems and business units with awkward
cross overs. Be clear on what your products are, the system implications and
how much overlap there will be between your products. Realise that doing Agile
at scale means that you will need to co-ordinate efforts - especially at
the beginning.

Within your product groups you will need to ensure
alignment to an overall product vision and the right prioritisation of funding
and resources in the group. Consider how you might organise Product Owner
forums to get your product owners to work together, identify and minimise cross
dependencies and to plan for joint releases where necessary.

How to decouple your systems: Will your systems hold you back?

Traditional, long
standing organisations have the challenge of legacy systems. These can be
tightly integrated, meaning that regular and often releases to a system is
problematic as one small change can affect multiple systems. For Agile teams
this is a significant challenge. Agile teams are trying to release quickly
but extensive testing and co-ordination of releases is needed to mitigate
against the risk of unforeseen issues. The answer is a painful one - you need
to come up with a strategy to systematically decouple your systems over time.
Companies like Amazon have done this to enable them to deliver changes at speed
through Agile teams, and anyone looking to embrace Agile at scale will need to
do the same.

How to get the right Product Owners: Do you have people who can easily do
the Product Owner role?

This is an emerging field and one we see the least
consistency in despite its importance. By definition the people currently
in your business who will be the natural fits will already hold
significant positions and will therefore be in high demand; they will
naturally attempt to do the Product Owner role part time or even at the side of
their desk.

Consider how to get the right training to these people and how to
get enough of their time. Consider introducing roles such as Product
Analyst to support them (but be careful these roles don’t turn into
surrogate Product Owner roles).

How to get the right leadership: Agile requires collaborative and
empowering leadership styles. Are your leaders of this type?

If not, they will
need to change or be changed out for the right type of leaders. If you are
looking to do Agile at scale then you need to acknowledge that this is a
fundamental change, and change like that will require fundamental changes to
your leadership team in terms of style and membership.

How to get the right working environment: Can you provide the right
environment for multiple Agile teams?

Sure, one Agile team can get a special
area to revamp for its purposes, but at scale can you revamp your entire
office? What about off site third parties who are part of your team? There’s no
easy answer here. You’ll need to look at collaboration software which is suited
to helping Agile teams work together across multiple locations.

You should certainly
look at remodelling your office area, building collaboration spaces and giving
an open vibe. For the long term you should even look at new office space. Many
of our clients like to build digital hubs for their more progressive Agile
teams, and then use them to experiment with new office layouts which they then
bring back into their office HQ.

How to get enough headroom: Do you have the remit to make
mistakes and to stick to your goals?

Things will not go completely right when you try to scale Agile.
When the mistakes occur the naysayers will be at the door wanting to put in
controls and measures which will only lead to more problems. Make sure you have
set the right expectations up front, and that you have the right backing at the
top of the organisations to give you the headroom you need when things get
rocky. The human reaction to issues with any change is to divert back to the
old, proven way of doing things. Be ready to fight for your corner.